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Home , Carlos (miniseries), Carlos (surname), History of painting

CARLOS LOPEZ A FORGOTTEN MICHIGAN PAINTER

CURATED BY GEORGE VARGAS, Ph.D. JANUARY 8 – APRIL 3, 2016

BRAUER MUSEUM OF We at the Brauer Museum of Art are delighted to present “Carlos Lopez: A Forgotten Michigan Painter,” curated by George Vargas, Ph.D. and in the exhibition, drawn from the collections of the ’s estate and the U.S. Navy Art Collection, reveal an artist who celebrated America in his insightful and complex and who saw with exquisite precision and transcribed his imaginative visions through his astonishing technical skills. These works endure as beautiful works of art, evidence of a master’s hand at work and poised for broader public appreciation.

I am grateful for the guidance, assistance, and support of exhibition George Vargas, the artist’s family members Jon and Carol Lopez, and the staff of the US Navy Art Collection. This exhibition was made possible through funds provided by the Brauer Museum of Art’s Robert and Caroline Collings Endowment, the Brauer Museum of Art’s Brauer Endowment, and the Partners for the Brauer Museum of Art.

Gregg Hertzlieb, Director/Curator Brauer Museum of Art, Valparaiso University

PAGE 2 | CARLOS LOPEZ Untitled (Prancing Horse), undated

Ink on paper, 13 3/4 x 16 7/8 inches Estate of Carlos Lopez Who was Carlos Lopez? Observations of the Artist’s Son By Jon Lopez

IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE In short, Carlos Lopez, the “Hispanic Painter,” Carlos Lopez was born in Cuba and spent his struggled throughout his entire much too brief life earliest years in Spain. With his origin and name, to be the best “American Painter” that he could be. the term “Hispanic Painter” is a natural fit. He arrived on these shores with his mother and four brothers, with almost no English among GENEROUS TEACHER them. Despite those ethnic roots, like most of his Lopez left behind a generation of students whose generation of newcomers to this country Carlos lives he touched deeply. He told them all, “I can Lopez did not see himself as an outsider. Instead, teach you to draw, but I cannot teach you to be he fully embraced the “American Ideal.” an artist.” He said that in a lifetime of teaching art you may only encounter one or two true talents. He began the American Experience in Henry Those few you must nurture with all you can give Ford’s stamping plant at River Rouge, but he and to the rest you must be kind and generous, ended his short life as a prize-winning American but also realistic. Just a few years ago I received painter and a professor of and a letter from a woman who had been a Lopez at the University of Michigan. He was part of that student back in the 1940s. She described herself generation we look back on with nostalgia and as a frivolous young girl at the time who could wonder. They fought off the depression and the draw nothing but “cute little babies.” Instead of fascists. “When despite his poor health he was sent being dismissive, Lopez saw something of worth overseas in an American officers uniform to serve there and encouraged her to continue. All these as a war correspondent he was proud enough to years later, she wrote to express her thanks for a burst his buttons.” 50-year career as a widely published children’s book illustrator. Alfred Taubman, the director Despite his idealism, he was not blind to the of Sothebys, was a Lopez student and describes ambiguities of life in America. His work shows himself in his autobiography as somewhat of a profound compassion for oppressed people, and playboy back then; Lopez told him, “You have he had very low tolerance for demagogy. His promise, Alfred, but you will not find it on the drawings of the “Massacre of the Innocents” can golf course.” Zubel Katachadoorian on the other be read as a condemnation of Joseph McCarthy. hand was one of those students whom Carlos His depiction of African American soldiers in recognized as a true talent and did all he could to the Civil War battle of Fort Wagner is done with encourage and nurture. Katachadoorian, who went sensitivity and respect, not common in the work of on to win the American Academy Prix-de Rome, white American painters in the 1940s. became almost a family member over time. Many years later, Katachadoorian told me in Rome that Carlos Lopez had been the strongest single influence on his personal and artistic life.

PAGE 4 | CARLOS LOPEZ “COMPLETE” ARTIST war, he wrote a letter to his wife virtually every The dramatic artistic flair we now associate day. Those letters, which sometimes arrived in so naturally with the mature work of Carlos batches and frequently arrived completely out Lopez is built on the solid foundation of an of chronological order, were often addressed artist in complete control of his media. In short, to “Carol and Jon Lopez.” Though they were Carlos Lopez was “old school” when it came to obviously for his young wife, they took the form technique. He believed an artist must first master of letters to his two kids: “Be sure to tell your his trade before he could let loose his creative mom what I saw in Africa today...” In the years drive. He believed you had to be able to draw after the war, until we were too old to value it, with the facility of an Honoré Daumier before this gentle man sat down every night and read you could paint with the expressive force of an to his children. During his last years, when he . He was equally at home with a knew his health was failing, his work grew darker litho stone, an etching plate, or merely a pencil and more troubled (some would say “more and paper. His control of India ink and dry brush profound”). Despite the sure knowledge of his was indeed astonishing. own impending death, Carlos Lopez never failed to express his affection for his family. In addition to learning to draw with anatomical precision, an aspiring artist was expected to know how to make his own damar varnish from LEGACY turpentine and resin crystals, size his own canvas There can be little question that the early death of by up a pot of rabbit skin glue, or build Carlos Lopez cut short a career of extraordinary his own frames with a miter box and a hand promise. At the time of his loss at age 42, he was saw. Today we look at these ideas as a bit quaint, already widely collected and the list of major but when Carlos Lopez was a young artist those prizes and significant commissions was skills were part of the set of skills that every artist impressive even for an older artist. Tastes change needed to acquire before they felt they had the and time moves on, but the extensive work of artistic license to put their own stamp on reality. this prolific painter, done in a wide range of styles Lopez will always be remembered for his truly and media with a sure mastery of his imagery, expressive, powerful work, and in the end that is remains as a monument to a sensitive, insightful, what made him a great artist, but his mastery of powerful artist. the underlying basic of his trade made that achievement possible.

FAMILY MAN Carlos Lopez was an obsessed painter who spent most every day either teaching or working on his art. His health was never great, and he was nearly deaf for much of his adult life. He often worked late into . One might think that these facts would mean that he was too preoccupied and disabled to be much of a family man. Nothing could be further from the truth. He was no Ozzie Nelson, but his affection for and devotion to his family were profound. While serving overseas during the

VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY | PAGE 5 Carlos Lopez: A Forgotten Michigan Painter by George Vargas, Ph.D.

INTRODUCTION was one of the most recognized modern painters in Sketchy historical records show the existence of the United States. During his lifetime, he received a handful of Latino in the United States many prestigious awards and commissions. An at the turn of the century. During the 1920s, academically trained and painter, 30s, and 40s, times of national prosperity and Lopez serves as a vital historical link connecting growth as as economic depression, Latino American in Michigan with a new artists increased across the country, including Latino history of the state. As one of only several in Michigan and in the Midwest in general. Michigan artists, Latino or otherwise, who received Limited records show artists of Latino or Latin federal mural commissions, Lopez also made American origins producing visual expressions important contributions to the development of diverse in and theme, representing folk art to American mural art through his historical murals mainstream influences. These artists reflected and in Michigan and Illinois. The work of Lopez offers portrayed their immediate environment as well as insight into the cultural history of the Latino the broader American society. Their openness to presence in Michigan, as well as giving us a unique multiple influences has continued to allow Latinos view of popular culture in the United States. to respond to trends in American art in a unique way, further enriching the concept of artistic and For 20 years Lopez played an influential role in cultural diversity in Latino art. the artistic life of Ann Arbor and Detroit as a hardworking art teacher, productive artist, and In the modern period, some Latino artists dedicated American, but today he still remains for participated in the federal mural painting projects the general public a shadowy figure in Michigan in the United States. These projects history. were directly influenced by the Mexican mural movement of the 1920s and 30s, both ideologically CARLOS LOPEZ and aesthetically. In Michigan, despite general One of the most famous and prolific Latino artists interest in ’s Detroit of the 1940s, Carlos Lopez was born in Havana, cycle (1932-1933) at the Detroit Institute of , Cuba in 1908 to Spanish parents. He spent his early Latino art generally speaking featured less social years in Spain, emigrating to the United States with commentary and more individual expression that his parents when he was 11, where he received encompassed a panorama of styles and . an American art education. A versatile artist of Many Latino artists did not refer to elements of exceptional quality, Lopez painted his beloved their own culture in their work, but instead leaned Michigan and adopted the country in modern toward mainstream art in search of personal terms, representing the new of American art meaning. of the times through his artworks and teaching.

Among mainstream artists working in Michigan, Lopez first studied with George Rich at the Detroit Cuban-born Carlos Lopez (1908 or 1910-1953) Art Academy and later with St. Pierre at

PAGE 6 | CARLOS LOPEZ Portrait of Carol, ca. 1942 Oil on canvas, 14 x 12 inches Estate of Carlos Lopez the . He also studied under number of major awards, including the Scarab Club Leon Makielski, landscape and portrait painter Gold Medal in 1938 for his painting, Boy with Bow, and University of Michigan art teacher. Lopez a study of a serious and pensive youth drawing exhibited for the first time in Detroit in January 1932; back the string on his wooden bow. He entered Boy soon after he served as director of the Detroit Art with Bow in Springfield, Ill., at the Old Northwest Academy from 1933 to 1937 and later as a teacher at Territory and was awarded a cash the Meinzinger School of Art in Detroit from 1937 to prize. In 1936, he was a prize winner in the Michigan 1942. Following a brief tenure as an instructor at the Artists Exhibition for his entry, Boy on a Horse, Summer School of Painting in Saugatuck, Mich., in which depicts a small farm boy riding on the back 1944, Lopez finally became a professor of art at the of a huge work horse. Lopez vested whimsy and University of Michigan in 1945, living in Ann Arbor compassion into this familiar rural subject. until his death in 1953.1 Lopez entered many state and national shows, A master of oils and watercolors, he often competed winning more awards and critical recognition. in the Michigan Artists Exhibition and won a Local awards include the Haan Prize in 1936, the

Detail of 1942 mural Register of Deeds Building, Washington, D.C. Modern Art Prize in 1937, the Scarab Gold Medal the coach’s arrival has generated. Chickens and in 1938, and the Kahn Award in 1940. He was pigs roam freely in town. The background of plain featured in Detroit area exhibitions at the Detroit wood buildings against an uncluttered landscape Institute of Arts, the Detroit Scarab Club, and the communicates the glorious yet hardy pioneer spirit Detroit Artists’ Market during this early period in of early America. his career. He also exhibited in the Golden State Exposition in 1936 and the World’s Fair in New To help achieve an idyllic presence of early York in 1939.2 Michigan history the artist adopted an almost folk or naive painting style using the simplest of linear Using a strong, formal sense of composition and perspectives and almost flat figures. both rich and low tonality of color, Lopez began painting murals in the late . Between 1937 Below the main panel three predella panels further and 1942, he won important mural competitions illustrate stages in early Plymouth history. In the and was commissioned to create murals for post lower left predella panel a bearded pioneer dressed office buildings under the Treasury Department in buckskin and a coonskin cap stands in a field he Public Works of Art Project. In 1937, assisted by has cleared of trees in preparation for cultivation. his wife, Rhoda, he painted a fresco mural titled Body posed in a three-fourth view with his head The Stage of Dawn in the post office in Dwight, Ill., in profile, the pioneer spies a deer leaping in an which documented the role of the stagecoach in opening in the thick woods. A group of small frontier transportation and mail delivery (a popular cabins set near the horizon represent the settlement theme for post office murals tailored for the post of Plymouth. A locomotive train carrying freight, office construction boom of the 1930s). Armed mail, and passengers travels past the farms and frontiersmen assist the stagecoach driver as he fields of grain in the central predella. Several town harnesses the frisky horses to the coach in the early residents view the train’s passing from a carriage morning light.3 standing in front of a large white house. The image in the right predella depicts one of Lopez’s rare In 1938 Lopez painted Plymouth Trail in the post social commentaries, reflecting Rivera’s impact on office in Plymouth, Mich., which was built by American mural art. the Works Progress Administration three years earlier. Upon entering the building, the viewer is The theme of progress continues in the third immediately greeted by a colorful historical scene, predella painting with the emergence of the again praising the crucial role of the stagecoach automobile and the industries it created in in transportation and mail delivery in Michigan’s Plymouth. In contrast to the early agricultural and history, first as part of the Northwest Territory industrial prosperity rendered in the central panel, and later as a new state. The top horizontal panel Lopez depicts the Depression in his portrait of a presents a simple picturesque street scene in nameless, homeless family seeking shelter in a cold, Plymouth of the 1860s, a small town that served dark railroad train yard. The bleak urban landscape as a major junction of transportation and trade in of lonely factories and warehouses reinforces western Wayne County. A stagecoach is waiting the despair and sympathy that the artist felt for for its passengers, its team of sleek horses eager to America’s poor and displaced people of all races. start. Several townsfolk in the lower left corner of In comparison to other post office murals, this the mural stand by reading the local newspaper, particular panel represents an unusual subject for while a young barefoot country boy stands in the government-sponsored art in the 1930s. center wearing rolled-up pants and a straw hat In 1940 Lopez painted another post office mural, with his dog intently watching the excitement that Bounty, in Paw Paw, Mich. Now using a distinct

VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY | PAGE 9 Men Waiting, 1952 Oil on canvas, 53 x 43 inches Estate of Carlos Lopez illustrative style reflective of American popular The picnic featured roast pig and readings from culture, the mural features the rich agricultural Shakespeare recited by amateur thespians. She bounty of the prosperous Michigan farming recalled, “It was hard for the elders to decide which communities of Van Buren County. In the center of they liked best that day, the poet or the pig!” the mural, apples, grapes, corn, and other important crops are organized in cornucopia fashion. To the Among the local picnickers in the mural, Fannie left a seemingly content migrant farm worker cares Fish appears as a little girl holding a bouquet of for an apple tree, while a handsome couple holds flowers. Near her sit two women with a baby, a their freshly harvested bounty in and look finely rendered composition resembling in spirit at each other with goodwill and love. On the right ’s The Virgin and Child with St. side of the mural a fiddler and a harmonica player Anne and the Infant St. John (1498). The realistic make music while others in a celebration of human figures are monumental and graceful, the harvest. A Michigan winter scene of ice skaters radiating maternal love and human compassion. on a pond appears at the top of the mural, above the Elizabeth Dewey, wife of a prominent leader, holds musicians, as a reminder that tourism is also a vital the baby, while Mrs. Campbell, wife of the village industry in Van Buren County, home of beautiful doctor, sits by. In the center of the mural, directly inland lakes, rivers, and 20 miles of Lake Michigan above the door, Dr. Robert Le Baron points to shoreline. This mural speaks both to the early the sky as he quotes Shakespeare. An enthusiastic pioneering efforts to settle and cultivate Michigan youth dashes in front of Le Baron with unbridled and to the modern economic wealth brought excitement. On the right side of the mural, a tall on by advanced agricultural . Lopez man whose face is a composite of James Jacobes communicated a sense of plenty and well-being and August Baldwin, two local judges, points to the in a self-conscious attempt to overcome post- roasting pig. Two other men stand by the judge: Depression anxiety and slow economic recovery in James Craig, another Birmingham pioneer, and Michigan.4 James Bloomberg, sheriff at the time the mural was painted. A small, but sturdy, church stands in the Selected from 22 artists in a mural competition, distance where women prepare tables with their Lopez received a $1,400 government-sponsored special picnic dishes in the churchyard. in 1942 to paint a mural on the east wall above a bulletin board and centrally- The Birmingham mural proved to be controversial, located door in the lobby of the recently completed becoming the focus of local criticism. Even before post office in Birmingham, Mich.5 After intensive he started painting, Lopez was accused of being an research, Lopez chose a typical pioneer scene, The outsider or stranger to Birmingham, unfamiliar Pioneer Society’s Picnic. In the mid-1800s residents with its local culture and history. Lopez responded in Birmingham and Oakland County gathered immediately in a friendly letter of introduction annually for a gala picnic; Lopez picked the picnic published by the Birmingham Eccentric newspaper. of 1850 for his theme, incorporating of He explained that he was currently living in Royal Oakland County pioneers he had copied from Oak, a community neighboring Birmingham’s early historical photographs and portraits of a few west border, and that he was aware of the history contemporary Birmingham residents who modeled of their town and was familiar with it personally for him during the execution of the mural. The since he had courted his wife in her hometown of details of the picnic were based on the childhood Birmingham. He also listed his credentials, assuring recollections of Fannie Fish, a local woman. the residents of his professional skills and integrity.6

VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY | PAGE 11 Even before completion of the mural, local critics around a nearly finished snowman in a typical were offended by the representations of their Michigan winter scene in which the viewer can forefathers in the painting, saying their faces both see and feel the cold and powerful spirit of appeared “Negroid.” In a newspaper article Lopez winter. In 1942 Lopez also painted Lake Huron calmly refuted the charges, revealing his historical Fishermen, burly men who tug at their nets alive sources and directing the critics to study the with small fish, as great lake and sky merge in the photographs themselves. He also received attacks horizon and as hovering sea gulls seek leftovers. from some who claimed that the moustache he Also, he was one of eight American artists painted on Sheriff Bloomberg made him look “too commissioned by the U.S. Department of War much like a Chinese.7 The furor was intense but (and later by Life Magazine in 1943) to journey short-lived. Though many demanded the mural be overseas with the American Army to create a removed or painted over, it ultimately survived. pictorial record of World War II. In 1944-1945, the Navy commissioned him to paint a series picturing In 1960, the mural, old and peeling, faced amphibious training activities. Soon after, Standard destruction during renovation of the post office Oil Company also commissioned Lopez to create a when plans called for new walls. Many community series of paintings dealing with the African Theatre members organized to protect the mural, although (Campaign) Operations. the mural’s background and the identity of the artist were uncertain. Zoltan Sepeshy, then director of In 1946 Lopez was chosen by the J.L. Hudson Cranbrook Academy of Art and an old friend of Company to work on the “Michigan on Canvas” Lopez, identified Lopez as the mural’s artist and project along with nine other professional artists proposed its preservation.8 Joseph Sparks, one of who had lived, worked, or painted in Michigan many who responded to an advertisement for an at one time and whose work was representational artist to repair the mural, miraculously turned and would be easily understood by the general out to have been both apprentice to and friend of public. Of the 10 painters, only four were living in Lopez.9 Thanks to Sparks and Sepeshy the mural Michigan at the time of the commission: Carlos survives, though it suffers from obscene that Lopez, professor of art, University of Michigan; has been scratched on to the figure of a pioneer John De Martelly, professor of art, Michigan State woman in one of two predella panels. College, and protege of Thomas Hart Benton; Fredenthal, Guggenheim Fellowship recipient Lopez had become an active and well-known and World War II war artist correspondent who artist. While still working on the Birmingham studied at Cranbrook; and Zoltan Sepeshy, director mural in 1942, Lopez was selected to execute of Cranbrook, and active member of the Detroit his largest mural ever in the Register of Deeds painting scene. The 95 paintings and drawings were Building, Washington, D.C. This important mural selected by an advisory board made up of Michigan commemorates the first Black troops ever used in a museum directors who worked on the selection United States military maneuver, recording Colonel of painters in cooperation with the Associated Shaw’s attack on Fort Wagner in 1863.10 American Artists. “Michigan on Canvas” toured Michigan in over 40 exhibitions and was then That same busy year Lopez won the Haass on loan to the Henry Ford Museum until its Award in a Detroit Institute of Arts exhibition disposition in 1956 when the works were donated for his painting, Snow Man, which represents his and distributed to various libraries, museums, and conscious shift to a spontaneous and expressionistic universities throughout the state.11 style in order to better explore and visually record his feelings and ideas. Father and children cluster

PAGE 12 | CARLOS LOPEZ Untitled (unfinished), 1953 Oil on canvas, 53 ½ x 43 ½ inches Estate of Carlos Lopez Of the 12 paintings Lopez exhibited in “Michigan a grassy hill overlooking a valley populated by the on Canvas,” four were related to Michigan’s many trees characteristic of the Michigan college automobile manufacturing industry. Blast town set against a cloud-swept sky. Furnace—Great Lakes Company captures the tremendous power of the great blast furnaces After 1946, Lopez turned inward to his own with their towering stoves forcing air through unconscious to explore the world of fantasy intense fires that melt the ore. Stamping Presses— and , perhaps as a way to escape the Fisher Body Plant, Pontiac, records the powerful trappings of a civilization that had recently suffered technology of the automobile industry through the ravages of World War II. His favorite subject the monstrous machines that tower over the became the Michigan winter, and he won Painting diminutive autoworkers who control the machines of the Year Award in a New York exhibition in 1947 that press and shape steel sheets into automotive for a winter landscape. Critics described his work bodies. Painting and Polishing Car Bodies shows as having an “eerie quality… winter the automated application of modern to with trees against a brooding sky.”13 His paintings automotive bodies helping to make them objects of had become more intense and poetic in feeling and grace and . Final Assembly Line—Plymouth form. When pressed, Lopez, who disliked labeling Plant pictures the final operation in modern his work, called it “expressionistic, and possibly automobile mass production, the assembly line, romantic.”14 thus completing the painting cycle. By the early 1950s, a distinct aura of sadness, Four other paintings represented the City of Detroit nostalgia, and made his paintings more and its urban environment; Downtown Detroit complex and difficult to understand. Traveling favorably portrays the city’s architectural growth Minstrels (1951) presents three minstrels, each since the 1920s. Skyscrapers, such as the - isolated by their separate thoughts, in a painting shaped Penobscot Building, dominate the skyline, style that resembles German expressionist Max while Christmas shoppers crowd downtown West Beckmann. The center minstrel looks at the viewer Fort Street. Ambassador Bridge features the huge with uncertainty and self-doubt as he holds a tether twin towers of the bridge rising 363 feet above the leading to the foot of a hooded falcon perched Detroit River and supporting the giant cables that on his shoulder. His female companion, who is hold the suspension bridge between Detroit and partially nude, stands behind him searching for Windsor, Canada. The painting expresses the trade the answer to an unknown mystery from her own and friendship that exists between the neighboring falcon, who is unhooded and untethered. The third nations. Loading Cranes—Detroit River and Ships minstrel seems forlorn as he turns his back and on the Detroit River depict trade and commerce walks away from the other two, and perhaps us. activities in Detroit’s shipping industry. His Men Waiting (1952) marks the end of Lopez’s painting career.15 Three half-dressed performers Lopez also painted landscapes for the “Michigan stand behind the curtain of a circus tent awaiting on Canvas” show, like Skiing at Caberfare, which the final act. They perform together yet live alone pictures the snowy slopes of Northern Michigan, in their grief. Their withdrawn feelings perhaps the ski slides and cross country trails that draw symbolize a premonition of Lopez’s own impending sports enthusiasts to the area. The skiers appear death. frozen in action against a cold, snow-filled landscape that captures the essence of Michigan’s After two years of illness Carlos Lopez died Jan. 6, majestic winter scene.12 In Ann Arbor, Home of 1953 in Ann Arbor from pulmonary embolism. At the University of Michigan three children play on 44, he was a respected artist and art teacher who

PAGE 14 | CARLOS LOPEZ made a valuable contribution to the development (1953) and in the annual Michigan Arts and Crafts of art in Michigan. His work is represented in the exhibitions from 1953 until 1957. Later in her Michigan collections of the Detroit Institute of Arts, career she was known for her “architectural bricks,” the University of Michigan Alumnae , used as a finish for fireplaces, as well as in and the Henry Ford Museum, as well as in private murals and free standing . collections of Gerome Kamrowski, fellow artist and University of Michigan professor of art, and Albert Their son, Jon, born in Detroit in 1940, received Taubman, a student of Lopez, Michigan developer, his art education at Antioch College, the University art patron, and owner of Sotheby’s Auction House. of Michigan, and the University of California, Los Angeles, and studied in Europe before settling He is remembered for his expressive artistic in California. His work has been exhibited in abilities, his integrity as a man, and his loving numerous juried shows, and in one-man shows commitment to his family. His legacy lives on throughout California, in Italy, and in Spain. When not only through his work, but also through the he returned to Ann Arbor in 1960, his paintings continuing work of his wife, Rhoda Le Blanc Lopez, were well honed and representational in a style very and his son, Jon Lopez. Rhoda, a ceramist and much akin to his father’s post-World War II period. medical illustrator, will always be associated with Jon later left Ann Arbor to pursue a career in art her husband. She worked with her husband, both and art education.16 in researching and executing mural projects. In Birmingham, she sketched city residents whose As a teacher, Carlos Lopez was known for his portraits would be inserted in the post office mural. loyalty and devotion to his students who looked to She also worked with her husband in ceramics, him with admiration and fondness. creating plates, pots, and bowls that her husband decorated with kings, archers, and animals such After his death, Rhoda was immediately flooded as kangaroos, fish skeletons, and 3-headed birds. with numerous requests from former art students Each year, between 1948 and 1952, they entered asking to purchase his artwork. Fortunately for his competitions as a team, “Lopez and Lopez,” in students and friends, she arranged an exhibit and Michigan Arts and Crafts exhibitions in Detroit, sale of his work, which included a collection of winning praise and awards for their collaboration. assorted drawings, some recently completed and She also exhibited independently in the Regional signed, and some designs for future paintings, at the Exhibition for Designers and Craftsmen U.S.A. Forsythe Gallery, Ann Arbor.17

George Vargas was born in Texas and raised in Michigan. He attended the University of Michigan, where he received his BFA, M.A., and Ph.D. An art historian and Americanist, museum educator, and arts administrator, his recent publications focus on American mural art, Border Studies, and Mexican American art.

VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY | PAGE 15 ENDNOTES ¹ Richardson, E.P. (1953). Carlos Lopez: A Memorial 9 “Post Office Murals ‘New Look’ Comes from Painter’s Exhibition. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1-2. See also: Ex-Protege,” Birmingham Eccentric, Birmingham, Aug. 11, Carlos Lopez, U of M Art Professor and Noted Painter, 1960, p. 2-A. Dies at 44, Ann Arbor News, Jan. 7, 1953, p. 1. 10 Richardson, p. 1. ² Kenny, M.K. (1965). A History of Painting in Michigan, 1850 to World War II. Dissertation, Wayne State University, 175. 11 Michigan on Canvas (Detroit, J.L. Hudson Company, 1947), See also: “Carlos Lopez,” Michigan Artists Files, Detroit p. 64. Institute for Arts Library, Detroit. 12 Lopez’s paintings listed and reproduced in Michigan ³ Marlene Park and Gerald Maikowitz, Democratic Vistas: Post on Canvas. Offices and Public Art in the New Deal (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1984), p. 208. 13 “Carlos Lopez,” Michigan Artists Files.

4 Ibid, pp. 61-62. 14 “Carlos Lopez, U of M Art Professor and Noted Painter… ” p. 1.

5 “Post Office to Get $1,400 Worth of Art,” Birmingham 15 Richardson, p. 7. Eccentric, Birmingham, April 3, 1941, p. 1-A. 16 At the time of completion of this article, it was found that 6. “Mural Artist Reveals All,” Birmingham Eccentric, Carlos and Rhoda Lopez had a second child, Carol Lopez, Birmingham, Nov. 19, 1941, pp. 1-A, 2-A. who today also is an artist and will be included in later studies. See “Rhoda LeBlanc Lopez,” and “Jon Lopez,” Michigan Artists 7 Kathryn Umphrey, “Lopez, Artist of Post Office Mural, Says File, Detroit Institute of Arts Library. Figures are Real People,” Birmingham Eccentric, Birmingham, July 16, 1942, pp. 1-A, 2-A. 17 Ms. Jessie W. Forsythe, letter to Mr. Jean Paul Slusser, Director of University of Michigan Art Museum, April 20, 1953, 8 “Mystery Mural Saved From Painter’s Brush,“ Birmingham Michigan Artists Files, U of M Art Museum. Eccentric, Birmingham, Aug. 4, 1960, p. 1-A.

PAGE 16 | CARLOS LOPEZ Untitled (Head Facing Left), undated Ink on paper, 16 3⁄4 x 13 3⁄4 inches Estate of Carlos Lopez

VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY | PAGE 17 ALL WORKS ARE BY CARLOS LOPEZ (1908 OR 1910-1953) Measurements are in inches. Height precedes width.

ESTATE OF CARLOS LOPEZ Untitled (Prancing Horse) Massacre of the Innocents undated undated ink on paper graphite on vellum 13 ¾ x 16 7/8 inches 11 ¾ x 9 inches Untitled (Horse Walking) Massacre of the Innocents undated undated ink on paper graphite on vellum 10 ¾ x 13 7/8 inches 11 ¾ x 9 inches Morgan Foal Lying Down Ahab undated undated ink on paper graphite on paper 8 ¾ x 11 ¾ inches (sight) 9 ¼ x 8 ½ inches Untitled (Head Facing Right) Blind Man undated 1949 ink on paper ink on paper 16 ¾ x 13 ¾ inches 19 ¼ x 13 ¼ inches Untitled (Head Facing Left) The Performer undated 1950 ink on paper ink on paper 16 ¾ x 13 ¾ inches 13 7/8 x 11 inches The Wine Drinkers Bull undated undated ink on paper ink on paper 13 ½ x 16 3/8 inches (sight) 13 7/8 x 16 5/8 inches The Far Away Bride Untitled (Young Foal) undated undated ink on paper ink on paper 14 ¾ x 10 ¾ inches (sight) 10 ¾ x 13 7/8 inches Mandolin Player Untitled (Running Horse) 1951 undated gouache on paper ink on paper 37 ¾ x 24 ¾ inches (sight) 8 ½ x 11 inches Watching the Flow undated casein on paper 21 ¾ x 15 inches

PAGE 18 | CARLOS LOPEZ Fishing Boats at Saugatuck US NAVY ART COLLECTION undated Eyeing the Sky casein on board 1944-45 24 x 33 ¾ inches oil on canvas 24 x 36 inches Portrait of Carol ca. 1942 Fort Pierce on Saturday Night oil on canvas 1944-45 14 x 12 inches oil on canvas 26 x 38 inches Clown undated Scouts and Raiders oil on canvas 1944-45 16 x 14 ¼ inches oil on canvas 25 x 39 inches The Lovers undated Concrete Ship Side oil on canvas 1944-45 14 ¼ x 18 1/8 inches oil on canvas 25 x 40 inches Carnival ca. 1947-50 Smoke Screen oil on board 1944-45 52 ½ x 36 inches oil on canvas 24 ¾ x 34 ½ inches Young Man in Costume undated oil on canvas 46 ½ x 29 ½ inches

Men Waiting 1952 oil on canvas 53 x 43 inches

Untitled (unfinished) 1953 oil on canvas 53 ½ x 43 ½ inches

VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY | PAGE 19 BRAUER MUSEUM OF ART

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